NHRA legend John Force, 75, has been moved from a trauma intensive care unit to a neuro intensive care unit following a fiery 300-mph drag race crash last weekend, his team announced Thursday.
Medical professionals in the neuro i.c.u. are attending focusing on head injuries he sustained on Sunday, which Force’s team calls the “primary concern” of the group treating the racer.
Force’s team said in a statement that the 157-time winner “faces [a] long road ahead,” but the recovery so far is “a welcome positive for his family members.”
Force’s daughter Brittany, herself a two-time NHRA champion in the Top Fuel class, has elected not to race this weekend and will instead stay with her father. Funny car points leader and fellow John Force Racing driver Austin Prock will still compete this weekend. Force himself currently sits second in that category’s championship, behind only Prock.
Force is four days removed from a harrowing 300-mph crash at Virginia Motorsports Park on Sunday, which occurred when his car’s engine blew up at the end of a winning pass during elimination racing. That led to separate hits into both walls at enormous speeds. Force was alert when medical staff arrived and quickly transported to a local hospital, where he remained in the intensive care unit throughout the week.
The announcement, the third statement from John Force Racing since the crash, makes no mention of any of the specific injuries that Force sustained in the incident. The team had already previously announced that Force would not race in this weekend’s NHRA events at Norwalk in Ohio.
Update: John Force has been moved out of the trauma intensive care unit and into the neuro intensive care unit, four days after his harrowing crash during the NHRA Virginia Nationals. According to a statement from John Force Racing, the 16-time champion suffered a head injury when his vehicle impacted the wall at over 300 mph. Also in the announcement, his daughter, Brittany Force, will skip this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals to be with her father and family at the hospital. Her teammate,
Force appeared to be shaken by the hard hit as the safety crew put him on a gurney and an emergency medical helicopter transported him to a local trauma center for evaluation. John Force Racing, which currently fields three nitro-burning racecars and has 22 NHRA championships to its credit, has made two brief and vague statements regarding the Force’s condition. The latest release, some 24 hours after the accident, admits he is in ICU, and his four daughters and wife are present at the hospital. Sources near the team say his condition is very guarded and speculate the injuries could be severe. The doctors are purposely moving slowly on revealing the extent of the injuries due to the severity of the impact, nor will they reveal a treatment and recovery assessment.
, will compete this weekend in the
This past weekend NHRA Funny Car driver John Force was involved in a dreadful accident following an engine explosion. The 16-time Funny Car champion climbed out of the wreckage with assistance from the NHRA Safety Safari and was transported to a local trauma hospital via helicopter. Force was competing in the NHRA Virginia Nationals, held at Virginia Motorsports Park, located outside of Richmond.
The incident occurred in the opening round of competition, his supercharged Hemi engine experienced catastrophic failure, setting off a chain of events that ended with several impacts with the retaining walls. Force received the win light over his competitor, Terry Haddock, and blistered through the traps at over 300 mph. The engine exploded, Force seemingly struggled to remain in control his Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car, before it slid from the right lane to the left, impacting the wall at a high rate of speed. The car then moved across the course and contacted the right side’s concreate barrier.
Force appeared to be shaken by the hard hit as the safety crew put him on a gurney and an emergency medical helicopter transported him to a local trauma center for evaluation. John Force Racing, which currently fields three nitro-burning racecars and has 22 NHRA championships to its credit, has made two brief and vague statements regarding the Force’s condition. The latest release, some 24 hours after the accident, admits he is in ICU, and his four daughters and wife are present at the hospital. Sources near the team say his condition is very guarded and speculate the injuries could be severe. The doctors are purposely moving slowly on revealing the extent of the injuries due to the severity of the impact, nor will they reveal a treatment and recovery assessment.
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